EVERTON left it late to secure their first home win of the season after it appeared they would again finish disappointed having dominated throughout.

David Moyes' side laboured in front of goal, as they
have done so far season, but managed to eke out victory without a
recognised front-line striker.

Three goals in their previous three matches
had pointed to a familiar problem for the Toffees.

And on a day when one
centre-forward they let go in the summer was the match-winner a few
miles up the road in Lancashire, and the one genuine striker they have
left departed Goodison Park in a huff before kick-off it seemed they
might pay for their lack of bite up front.

Yakubu, deemed surplus
to requirements by Moyes in the summer and allowed to leave for little
over £1million, scored twice for Blackburn on his debut against
Arsenal.

Everton 3 Wigan Athletic 1

Louis Saha, he of the perennial injury problems, was left out of
the squad again and reacted by venting his frustration on Twitter.

With Tim Cahill now
reclassified as a striker by Moyes, who has few other options at the
moment, it highlighted how short the resources are.

But the Scot's sides are
nothing if determined and after defender Phil Jagielka had equalised
Franco di Santo's opener with only the third goal of his four-year
Everton career, youngster Apostolos Vellios headed in with six minutes
to go before Royston Drenthe poked home deep in injury time.

It made the absence of Saha,
who has played just 41 minutes in two substitute appearances this
season, immaterial - although Moyes may have something to say about his
pre-match comments.

"I am not good enough. Absolutely destroyed," tweeted
the Frenchman, who is understood to have left Goodison Park soon after
discovering he was not in the squad.

"It's coz I'm confident in my ability that I'm gutted."

Everton had dominated from the
off but after Seamus Coleman's stooping header was turned around the
post by Ali Al Habsi.

Di Santo's lack of vision squandered Wigan's chance to take an early lead.

Marouane Fellaini's stumble on
the halfway line gave the Argentinian a free run at Jagielka but with
the unmarked Victor Moses in acres of space to his right the striker
blazed a hopelessly optimistic 30-yard shot well wide.

It was a rare chance in a half
which the hosts dominated with Tim Cahill being crowded out by Gary
Caldwell after Leon Osman's neat reverse pass had sent Leighton Baines
racing into the area.

Caldwell was the busiest centre-half as he also kept
out Fellaini's close-range effort as Coleman began to enjoy some
freedom on the right.

But Moses posed even more of a threat and looked
destined to score when he nipped in front of Sylvain Distin only for
Tony Hibbert to slide in and knock the ball behind in the 31st minute.

Moyes will have been furious
with the way Di Santo was allowed to collect Ben Watson's near-post
corner, casually wander back towards the flag before turning inside
Osman and firing in a shot which deflected off Hibbert and past Tim
Howard for his third goal of the season.

Having previously struggled for
goals the Argentinian has now scored more this season than in his
previous three-and-a-half years in England.

However, the lead lasted just
97 seconds as Osman's inswinging corner was met by a powerful Cahill
header which crashed against the crossbar, rebounding to Jagielka four
yards out who nodded home.

Baines, with a free-kick, and Cahill, with a
header, both went close as Everton finished the half strongly.

Everton continued to pressure without threatening after the break.

Their lack of a predatory
instinct up front was highlighted in the 76th minute when Osman rolled
an inviting cross into the six-yard area only to look up and see none of
his team-mates had made a run to connect.

Drenthe and fellow loan signing
Denis Stracqualursi, making his debut, came on as substitutes and
without very little input the game swung in Everton's favour.

When Hibbert whipped over a
cross from the right the 19-year-old Vellios rose highest to head into
the far corner of the net.

Even then Everton could not relax with Wigan
substitute Dave Jones hitting the crossbar from long range.

However, when Drenthe raced
through to poke past Al Habsi in the eighth minute of injury time the
fans were finally able to celebrate three points at home for the first
time since May.